When Airdrie woman Morgan McComb blew out the candles on her cake, she celebrated her 21st birthday with the greatest gift she could ever have wished for – a new heart.
The student’s parents held a party to end all parties for their daughter as it is a milestone they feared she might not reach.
Morgan was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy aged 18 and last year her condition deteriorated so much she was told a transplant was her only hope of survival.
Confined to a hospital bed, her hopes of a new life were dashed time and time again as four donor hearts proved incompatible.
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But all that changed in November when her transplant went ahead on the fifth attempt, giving her a future and allowing her mum Michelle, 48 and dad Chris, 46, to plan a massive 21st birthday bash.
Morgan says she will be forever grateful to the stranger whose heart now beats inside her; and she’s determined to make the most of her second chance at life.
She said: “I’m not into big birthday parties but I made an exception this year as I have so much to celebrate – I’ve turned 21 and I’ve got a full and happy future to look forward to.
“My mum went crazy and ordered a two-tier cake and a ton of fairy lights. There are hundreds in my family and they were all invited.
“This time last year, I was so breathless, I found it difficult to dress myself and now I got to dance at my 21st birthday with my friends; it’s an incredible feeling.”
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When she was 10, Morgan started to feel breathless.
Doctors put it down to asthma but after years of palpitations and blackouts she was referred to a cardiologist and, in February 2017, she was diagnosed with the heart condition.
She was prescribed beta blockers and fitted with a defibrillator in case her heart stopped.
Morgan, who has a sister Brooke, 18, said: “Life became more and more difficult as I got older.
“In my final year of high school, I was passing out three to four times a month and was breathless doing the littlest things. They thought I was asthmatic so I went through lots of different inhalers but nothing seemed to work.
“When I was diagnosed, I wasn’t upset or scared; I was more relieved they finally knew what was wrong with me and I felt safe because I knew that I was going to be fixed.”
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Morgan was assessed over the summer of 2017, but when she was still breathless after a couple of months on medication, she was referred to specialists at the Golden Jubilee National Hospital in Clydebank.
After a week of tests, Morgan was placed on the routine waiting list for a transplant in October 2017.
During her time on the list she received calls three times telling her a heart had been found – only for each operation not to go ahead.
Morgan said: “The first time it didn’t go through, I was heartbroken.
“I was prepped and ready for theatre – down to the nail polish being removed from my toes – when I heard that the donor heart had a tumour and wasn’t suitable.
“I went home and the second call came at 6.30am the following morning. I waited 12 hours, only to be told I wasn’t getting that one either.
“That was definitely the hardest part of the whole journey. To have two offers in 24 hours and not to get either heart was so discouraging. Another heart in May also fell through.
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“I thought I’d get a heart within a year of being on the routine list and as time went on, that seemed to be less of a possibility.”
Morgan gave up her English degree at Glasgow University and worked in Ted Baker, re-applying for a place studying architecture at Glasgow School of Art, which she was due to start after last summer.
But in September, pressures in her heart were higher and she was more out of breath – doctors told her she was being placed on the urgent transplant list.
Morgan was admitted to hospital full-time and seven weeks later, her transplant went ahead after yet another heart fell through.
She said: “I didn’t believe the transplant would actually happen. I’d been told that on very rare occasions, a patient could be put under anaesthetic and the operation wouldn’t go ahead and I’d managed to convince myself that was going to happen to me.
“When they said I was going to theatre, I was really shocked. I couldn’t believe it. I’d not got that far before.
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“The next thing I knew, I woke up in the ICU. The first thing I asked was, ‘Did it really happen?’”
Morgan now plans to write to her donor’s family on the anniversary of her transplant and is delighted the new opt-out law which comes into affect from autumn 2020 will make organs more readily available.
She said: “I don’t know much about my donor but I’m planning to write to her family. I’ve been told how much of an amazing heart I’ve been given and it’s opened up my whole life for me. It takes a really good person with a strong family to do that for someone else. I’m incredibly grateful to my donor and her family.
“I cried when I heard about the move to opt-out. There are so many people needing a transplant; people like me, just living and waiting.
“My hope is that if there are any young girls who are waiting on a heart and reading this, they know they’re not the only one.
“There is hope of a new heart and a new life.”
